Improvement in cotton-bale-band tighteners



2 Sheet.s-Sheet 1.

s. H. GILMANQ COTTON BALE-BAND TIGHTENER.

Patented Dec. 28,1875.

a .H. 1 .K w M A M Q a M, may? 9 N. PETERS, PHOTO-LITHOGRAPHEH, WASHINGTON, n O.

UNITED STATES PATENT QFFIGE.

SAMUEL GILMAN, OF

NEW ORLEANS, LA., ASSIGNOR TO LOUISIANA COTTON-TIE COMPANY.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 171,560, dated December 28, 1875; application filed December 14, 1875.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, SAMUEL H. GILMAN, of the city of New Orleans, in the parish of Orleans and State of Louisiana, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Machines for Tightening Bands around Cotton-Bales, which improvement is fully set forth in the following specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part thereof, in which Figure 1 is an elevation of the right side; Fig. 2, an elevation of the left side, indicating in dotted lines the mode of operation; and Fig. 3 is a front elevation of my invention. Fig. 4.- is a vertical longitudinal section of the sliding tension-plates when closed. Fig. 5 is a similar section, showing the said plates apart or open. Fig. 6 is a horizontal section through the said plates and through the center of the operating shaft. Fig. 7 is a detailed view of the detaching apparatus. Fig. 8 is a diagram representing the main parts of my invention, and illustrating the modeof operation of the same.

My invention relates to machines for tightening metal bands around cotton and other bales previous to fastening the same by a metal tie; and in the main it consists of two pairs of jaws for taking a firm hold of the two ends of the band, which are drawn apart by the operation of a crank-plate on two interlocking sliding plates, to which they are fastened; and it further consists in certain constructions, combinations, and arrangements of parts, as hereinafter described and claimed.

The object of my invention is to furnish a machine which may very rapidly and effectually be operated for tying and locking metal bands around bales while in the press, and which may, by means of a horizontal rod in front of a row of presses, be rapidly moved from one to the other, and swung in and out toward and from the bale on said rod.

'In the drawings, A represents a press with the upper plate B and the lower plate B, between which abale, O, is compressed. A horizontal rod, D, hung on arms a of the press A serves as a support to the swinging frame E, the lower end of which forms a bearing, 6,

for the oscillating shaft F, and is also provided witha bracket, E, and horizontal rollers 6 bearing laterally against the plate B, and thereby keeping the frame E steady. The traveling movement of the frame E on the shaft D is facilitated by grooved antifriction rollers d on the upper and lower side.

G and the connecting-rodsgwithout prevent- The plate H is at its ingtheir movement. foot provided with a stationary jaw, J, and a movablejaw, J, which is fastened to a rod,j, passing through the said plate, and operated by an eccentric cam, K, on a handle, K. A spring, 70, on the edge of the plate H bears on the head j of the rod j, and thereby keeps the jaws J J open when the handle K is turned up. A spring, K, on the said handle bears also on the head j, and by friction keeps the handle in the desired position. The plate I carries a swinging lever-jaw, L, pivoted at l, and kept up by the spring 1. Another swinging jaw, M, is-pivoted to plate I at m. The said jaws L and M are made self-locking by the great difference in their diameters; and to preveutany overstrain in their operation there is a thrust-shoulder, L, on the plate I a little below the lever-jaw L, allowing just the necessary play. The plate H is also provided with a lever, N, pivoted at n, and connected through a pivot, a, with a shoe, 0,

which clasps the lower part of the plate H,

and at its bottom carries a flange, 0, with a lateral open slot, 0, and a lever, P, with a curved end piece, p, constructed to play across the said slot, and thereby pushing the band out when locked or tied. 1

The plates H and I are made to play about the plate'Gr, so that they may accommodate themselves to bales of any size or shape. The lever j is kept up by a coiled spring, g, on shaft Q. The spring and shaft are both attached to the frame-E, and connected by the lever B at the end of the shaft Q, and by the connecting-rod r to the lever f.

The position of the handle f, shown in Figs. 1 and 2 by full black lines, has the effect of keepin g the band-tightening pla-tes H and I closed, and the position represented in dotted lines shows the said plates open, and the jaws J J and L M as far apart as the downward movement of the handle f will permit.

After the bale is compressed sufficiently, the. machine is moved on the rod D toward the next band to be tightened.

Alock or tie, S, is slipped on the upper end of the band X before it is placed around the bale in the press. The upper end of the band is now passed sidewise through the jaws J J and the slot 0. The lower end of the band is next passed up through the lock' or tie S, thence through the slot 0 and thence through the jaws L M. The jaws J J are then locked by turning the handle K down. The lever f is now turned down, thereby raising; the plate I and the jaws L M, which thereby becoming locked, pull the lower end of the hand up.

The plate H and the jaws J J are lowered by thefsaid action of the lever f, and they pull the upper end of the hand down, thereby causing the tie S to slip down toward the bulged lower end of the band. When sufficient strain is exerted on the band, the lever K is moved up, and the jaws J J are opened to permit the upper end of the band to draw back, thus causing its doubled up end to wedge firmly in the tie S, which is drawn up against the flange o. The downward motion of the lever f is now continued, to increase the abovedescribed wedging until the friction of the two ends of the band within the tie locks them completely. The lever f is then moved up again, thereby bringing the plates H and I, and also the jaws J J and L M, together, and releasing the self-locking jaws L M, there by freeing the ends of the band from their grasp.

To prevent slipping of the band around the bale before it is entirely released from the jaws L M, and during the downward movement of said jaws, the lever N is moved down, thereby lowering the shoe 0 and its flange o, and exerting the necessary downward pressure on the tie S by hand, to prevent such slipping. The band is now locked, and bears on the jaws L and J, and it is removed from the same by turning the lever P to the left, which causes the curved endp to push against the band and move the whole machine, by its fulcrum-pin, toward the left, off the band, after which the machine is moved bodily on the shaftD to the next band of the bale, and the same operation repeated.

' Having thus described my invention, what i I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-- I 1. The jaws L M and J J, which, by the operation of the lever f are simultaneously moved apart or together, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

2. The sliding plates H and I, interlocked so as to form mutual and firm guides for perpendicular motion,constructed and operating substantially as and for the purposes described.

3. The sliding plates H and I, and flanges h 2', whereby the operating crank-plate G and the connecting-rods gare inclosed, and prevent any lateral movement of the same, substantiall as hereinbefore set forth.

4:. The jaws L and M, constructed with variant diameters, and arranged andoperating as set forth.

5. The plate H, providedwith the fixed jaw J, the movable jaw J, and the lever-cam K,

combined and operating substantially as set forth.

6. The shoe 0, having the flange o, in combination with the lever P, substantially as and i for the purposes set forth.

7. The traveling and swinging frame E,carrying a band-tightening machine, and supported and guided on the shaft D, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

8. The vertically-movable shoe 0, having flanges 0, in combination with the upper jaws L M, for the purpose of preventing the band from slipping on the bale while the said jaws are being released, as herein set forth.

9. A band tightening and locking machine composed of a traveling frame, E, the eccentric operating-plate G, the sliding. plate's' H and I, the jaws L M and J J, the shoe 0, and lever P, constructed and operated as and for the purposes set forth.

In witness that I claim the foregoing as my invention, 1 hereunto subscribe my name in presence of two witnesses.

SAMUEL H. GILMAN.

Witnesses:

JAS. A. LAFITTE, W. A. S. WHEELER. 

